Everything about playing cards

Origins

On the origins, as is customary, a little bit of China.

In 1294, the case of two Chinese citizens arrested for practicing gambling was brought to the attention of the emperor Kublai Khan. Caught in the act, they were not able to destroy the cards, which they also produced, or the dies used to print them. The penalty Kublai Khan bestowed on the offenders is not known, but the incident is the oldest record in existence mentioning card games. The person who actually created this new type of game died without being recognized as having left an important cultural legacy for humanity. Perhaps because, at the time, an illegal activity was being carried out and the creator wanted to remain unknown.

Card games in China comprise a set of games with names that always contain the word "pai", which literally means "sign". Various games are played using the principle of "signs", characterized by having a uniform face, where the value of each card is unknown, with the other side containing drawings and symbols used to form combinations in each game. This attribute is seen in playing cards and dominoes as well as the Mahjong tiles. Playing cards made ​​of paper are known in Chinese as "zhi pai"; dominoes as "gu pai" (bone signs) and Mah Jong tiles, usually made ​​of ivory, as "ya pai".

Our Chinese cards, remote precursor of today`s decks were (and still are) small elongated rectangles, with an average size of around 10 x 2.5 cm, much smaller than modern playing cards. Both in physical appearance as well as the composition and rules of games, Chinese cards bear little resemblance to modern playing cards. But how did these cards evolve and come to Europe, taking the form, structure and pattern that is familiar to us today? In this regard, we have much speculation and little certainty. The fact is that other Oriental playing card patterns have very little to do with the appearance and structure of the European card games from which the modern deck originated. The deck which is now used to play buraco, poker, bridge, truco...

Playing cards of the Orient

Although it is speculated that they were created a long time ago, examples of Korean playing cards were only found in the nineteenth century. In addition, they are physically very different to both the current deck and the Chinese cards. In Persia, cards have a similar shape to that of modern cards, but have a five-suit structure containing five cards repeated within each suit, all representing figures, with no numbered cards. The earliest record of their existence dates to the sixteenth century. Although the basic game using these cards (As Nas) has some resemblance to modern poker, the date of its appearance refutes the idea that it may have been a stage in the evolution from Chinese cards to the current model. Playing cards were present in Europe in the second half of the fourteenth century. India is another country that does not seem to have been part of the `route to Europe`. With round cards comprising sets of up to 120 in 10 different suits, they bear little resemblance to the cards we use today. These decks also seem to have emerged only in the sixteenth century, when cards had already been played for some time in Europe.

Chinese, Korean, Persian and Indian decks (clockwise from the top left): bear little resemblance to modern decks (right side of the figure).

In Japan, the evolutionary phenomenon was reversed: it was the Portuguese, who on arriving in the Far East in the mid-seventeenth century, ended up disseminating their European cards in the country. Until the first quarter of the twentieth century, unfounded speculation prevailed on how playing cards appeared in Europe. Suppositions, with no documentary evidence, spoke of gypsies, Marco Polo, crusaders and other vehicles bringing this new type of game to the region, which was also still politically structured. On the other hand, there was also speculation on an origin in the continent itself. In most of these hypotheses, however, the Orient seemed to be the most plausible origin. As is the case for various other scientific, artistic and cultural objects, instruments and attributes in Europe, we have to recognize another Arab legacy to the European civilization.

The Mamluk cards

A set of playing cards forms part of the collection in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, in Istanbul. The cards are large (25.5 x 9.5 cm) and hand-painted with gold details. There are indications that these could have been a gift from the Mamluk ruler of Egypt to the Ottoman sultan in the mid-fifteenth century.

Fearing Mongol invasions from the east and the Christian Crusaders from Europe, the Arabs of the Ayyubid dynasty, who ruled Egypt in the thirteenth century, sought to form a well-trained professional army, acquiring the Mamluk caste in the slave market. They consisted primarily of Turks defeated in wars. Although sold as slaves, after their acquisition they did not suffer from subhuman living conditions: they received regular payment and maintained a formal chain of command, choosing their commanders (sultans) among their own peers and living in very comfortable conditions. Their strength was such that they took power in Egypt in 1258, ending Ayyubid rule in the country. The Mamluks ruled the region until 1517, when they were overcome by the Ottomans. During the time in which they ruled over the country, they had a significant influence on its culture. Much of the art and architecture in the city of Cairo today was formed in the Mamluk era.

With examples dating back to the thirteenth century, the Mamluk cards gave rise to the modern deck.

While studying these cards in 1938, L. A. Meyer, a leading researcher of Arab influence in Europe, concluded that the model could have been a precursor to the European decks. Although missing the traditional figurative cards (kings, queens, jacks and knights, common in older decks of the region), the structural similarity of symbols identifying the suits is striking. The absence of figures relates to the Arab tradition of avoiding figurative representations of people, explained by some as a formal ban on religious grounds and by others to be simply considered bad taste. However, cards in the deck were identified as representing kings, first viceroys and second viceroys; exactly three "royal figures", as in most European decks. The deck consisted of 52 cards, as is still found in various types of decks, especially in the most popular version of modern playing cards.

The discovery of other cards with smaller dimensions and less luxurious presentation than those found in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, probably produced in the twelfth century, demonstrated consistent evidence that our current decks almost certainly originated from this Mamluk game. Studies and analyses completed in the 1970s, primarily by members of the International Playing Card Society (IPCS), such as Prof. Sir Michael Dummett from Oxford University, consolidated idea of the Mamluk origin of the European deck.

Another important reference was left by a Dominican friar from the city of Basel, Switzerland, in his Treatise on the ethics and discipline of human life. Written in 1377, Johannes of Rheinfelden describes, in detail, a game of cards with a similar structure to the games attributed to the Mamluks.

In addition to these two important references, various others start to appear in Europe in the second half of the fourteenth century. Most of these were sermons against playing games with cards or governments from various regions prohibiting the practice of such games: Florence, Paris, Siena, in 1377; Bern (1379); Barcelona, ​​Nuremberg, Perpignan, in 1380; Zurich and the Netherlands, in 1390, to name only those most frequently mentioned in articles on the subject.

All these references demonstrate the rapid development of card games in Europe after 1370. Italy and Spain provide the unmistakable points of contact with the Mamluk cards. The similarity between primitive decks from these regions and the Mamluk decks is more than evident.

Mameluco

Tarô Visconti Sforza - séc. XV

Tarô Cary-Yale Visconti - séc. XV

Tarô de Marselha - séc. XX

Mameluco

Tarocco Bolognese - atual

In addition to physical resemblance of the cards, research indicates that the Mamluks played trick games. This type of game is still popular in the whist family of games, the most famous, and still practiced, descendant of which is bridge. Various old European card games, including tarot, are also structured in "tricks.

Summing up, do we know who created playing cards?

As is the case for most old inventions, the creation of playing cards cannot be attributed to a specific person. Legends speak of a Chinese emperor who created the cards to entertain his various women. And that he was taken to Europe by Marco Polo or gypsies. Others claim playing cards were created in France for King Charles VI, who needed to distract himself in order to placate his madness. This would have occurred in 1392, when playing cards had already been in Europe for at least 30 years. Marco Polo never mentioned cards in his well-reported journeys. The gypsies arrived in Europe in 1398 and found the game already being played. Therefore, they are nothing more than legends and fantasies.

What is concrete is the reference to their existence in China in 1294. Their transport to Europe occurred via an unknown route, but perhaps in the hands of the Saracen Mamluks in the mid-fourteenth century, establishing the standard with which we still play, win and lose money. Nothing more than this. If so, the Mamluk playing cards may have been an evolution of the Chinese deck. The cards may also have been created later by the Arabs in an example of the cultural and creative parallelism we observe in many objects: independent creations with no formal links, only creative coincidences in different times and places. Until now, nothing tells us what actually occurred.

Without records, the creator disappeared while leaving behind an extremely important cultural legacy.